U.S.-ROK Alliance

On June 18, CSIS Office of the Korea Chair and the Korea Foundation co-hosted the third annual ROK-U.S. Strategic Forum at CSIS headquarters in Washington, D.C. This year’s theme was “Assessing the Trump-Kim Summit.” This year’s forum was highlighted by speeches from senior U.S. and ROK officials, including His Excellency Lim, Sungnam, First Vice Foreign Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, who delivered the opening keynote address, Mr. Mark Lambert, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea at the U.S. Department of State, who gave the luncheon keynote, and Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who provided the closing keynote address. The 2018 ROK-U.S. Strategic Forum brought together top experts, opinion leaders, and current and former government officials to assess the results of the Singapore summit and to understand the path forward on denuclearization and the construction of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

On September 25, 2017, CSIS Office of the Korea Chair and the Asan Institute for Policy Studies co-hosted a special event featuring a keynote address and discussion with Her Excellency Kang, Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, Chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group and former U.S. Secretary of State. The distinguished speakers discussed the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, the U.S.-ROK alliance, and their foreign policy experiences. The keynote discussion was followed by an expert panel on ROK-U.S. relations and the North Korean nuclear issues.

On June 30, 2017, His Excellency Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, delivered a Global Leaders Forum address to a Washington D.C. foreign policy audience of more than 250 at CSIS headquarters. This occasion marked several firsts: President Moon's first foreign policy address abroad, his first visit to the United States as president, and his first summit meeting with the Donald J. Trump administration. Full audio and video archives of this event are available here.

U.S.-ROK Alliance: Looking Ahead to the New Administration and Beyond

On December 5, 2016 the CSIS Office of the Korea Chair and the Korea Foundation hosted a special international forum to review the opportunities and challenges for the U.S.-ROK alliance facing a new U.S. administration and beyond. This forum brought together U.S. and ROK senior officials, experts, and opinion leaders to discuss issues of North Korea’s challenges, the U.S.-ROK alliance and East Asia, and the future of U.S.-ROK economic, energy and trade cooperation. Full audio and video archives of this event are available here.

Korea Going Forward and the 2015 Bilateral Summit

The CSIS Korea Chair celebrated the summit meeting of ROK president Park Geun-hye and U.S. president Barack Obama with a series of events in 2015, titled "Korea Going Forward."

Each of these events, involving policymakers, experts, and opinionleaders, help to elevate the level of informed public discussion about U.S.-ROK relations in advance of the meeting of the two presidents.

The "Korea Going Forward" series of events was made possible by the generous support of Grosvenor Capital Management L.P. and Amkor Technology.

A public international conference co-hosted with the Korea Foundation involving senior opinion makers, policy makers and officials to frame the agenda for U.S.-ROK relations going forward. Participants included former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs Kurt Campbell, former U.S. lead negotiator for the 1994 Agreed Framework Robert Gallucci, former U.S. lead negotiator for the 2005 Six Party Talks Christopher Hill, former Senior Envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth, former ROK Ambassador to the U.S. Choi Young-jin, and former national security adviser to the President of the Republic of Korea Chun Yung-woo.

June 3-4, 2015: ROK-U.S. Strategic Dialogue
A unique track 1.5, two-day international forum, co-hosted with the Korea Foundation, looking at key issues for the Park Geun-hye government and the Barack Obama administration in the region and around the globe in advance of the Park-Obama summit with participants from think tanks, universities, media, and governments.

A public international conference co-hosted with the Korea Foundation involving senior opinion makers, policy makers and officials that took an look in-depth at the prospects for regional cooperation among the major powers of East Asia, in advance of the White House summit between the United States and the Republic of Korea.

It was our distinct pleasure to host a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Statesmen's Forum featuring her Excellency Park Geun-hye, President of the Republic of Korea. On the occasion of her summit visit to the White House, President Park delivered a public address on foreign policy and United States-Korea relations at CSIS.

The 2013 ROK-U.S. Bilateral Summit

In the run-up to the first bilateral summit between President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama on May 7, 2013, the CSIS Korea Chair featured a series of articles by senior Korean policy scholars that discuss the significance and implications of this summit meeting for the future of ROK-U.S. alliance.

Despite reports of a scandal involving a member of the Korean President's official party, the recent Washington visit of President Park Geun-hye scored some notable successes. Perhaps, most prominently, President Park's May 8th address to a joint meeting of the Congress demonstrated that the Republic of Korea is in the top rank of American allies. Read more.

"Trust” is the key word of President Park’s administration. The President herself has put great emphasis on complying with what she had promised to the people during her campaign and placed great weight on trust between the people and government. Read more.

All incoming leaders, especially democratic ones, have to transition from a campaign to a governing mode with all of the structural constraints one isn’t faced with during a prolonged election season. Read more.